Things to be thankful for...

I found this blog today, and I don't think I have cried that hard in a long time.

http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com/

It's so upsetting that children have to go through things like that and it makes me so grateful for everything and everyone in my life. It really makes me reevaluate everything that stresses me out and that I complain about, because it does not compare at all to what some people go through on a daily basis.

I hope that I will be as good a mom to Hannah, as this women was to her son.

Wedding Updates

I've been working hard on knocking some wedding "to-do's" off of my list.

I ended up hiring a wedding coordinator to help me with everything after the baby gets here and we get closer to the wedding. She is technically a "day-of" coordinator and will do everything on the wedding day, from set up and take down, to making sure the wedding party is in order. However, I lucked out and have a sorority sister who happens to plan weddings and she offered to help with mine! I'm so happy to have her help, since I'm sure it's going to be difficult to be calling floral and cake vendors when I have a screaming baby in my arms!

I also figured out bridesmaid dresses! I ended up going with kind of a unique route. I decided to have the bridesmaids in all completely different dresses, all within the purple color spectrum. I'm still a little nervous to see how this will work out, but I'm thinking it will look cute.

I also went and tried on wedding dresses! I've actually been slightly dreading the dress shopping; my growing stomach has been the main culprit, but I can also be really indecisive and I was worried I wouldn't find anything I liked. However, I made the appointment and on the first day of our snow storm, my mom, Kelly and I made our way over.
I made it through about 4 dresses before I got super sick. I barely made it to the chairs where my mom and Kelly were sitting, before I blacked out and almost fainted. Did I mention that I was WEARING a giant Vera Wang ball gown? I had to sit and sip some water (which is apparently frowned upon when wearing said Vera Wang ball gown), but the second I could stand up, I couldn't get out of that dress fast enough. That pretty much ended our first dress shopping experience.
But we are trying again this weekend, so we will see how it works out!

I think that is all the wedding updates I have for now! 

Snow Storm and Engagement Pictures

We had the "storm of the century" over here in the Pacific Northwest this past week. Obviously, it's nothing compared to what you East-Coasters see every winter, but our city and streets aren't exactly equipped for snow and ice....neither are our drivers.

It started on Monday with some snow....Tuesday we got even more snow, Wednesday even more snow...and Thursday we got ice. Which was worse than all the snow because it just added a frozen layer on top of the foot and a half of snow we had accumulated on everything. We ended up losing power a few times, but that was pretty much the extent of our inconvenience from the weather. Work and school was cancelled for almost all of us, so we got to just stay home and enjoy the storm.

However, a lot of other people did not fare so well. Our governor ended up calling a state of emergency for Washington State and the National Guard was sent in. Over 170,000 people have been without power, people living in Monroe and North Bend have been evacuated, people living in Issaquah have been ordered to not use their water or sewage systems at any cost, roofs have collapsed, trees are falling, and there have been over 700 accidents in the past 3 days. It's been a mess out there and I feel very fortunate that despite our bouts of no power, we have stayed comfortable and safe during the storm.

Now, onto the pictures!

 Hudsy loved laying in the snow.

Waiting for his friends to come out and play. 

Beautiful backyard. 

Pups playing in the snow.

 Hudsy drying off after playing outside (notice the ice balls stuck to his fur around his paws).

 Pumbaa and Kenai all tuckered out.

 Day 3 of snow.

 Gorgeous neighborhood.

 It looks like we are in the mountains!

Snow covered house.

In other news, Noah and I had the opportunity to do some impromptu engagement pictures this week! We technically still have a photo shoot on the 29th, but when we got all of the beautiful snow, we thought it might be fun to get some shots in the snow and see how they turned out.So we literally just ventured into our backyard to see what would happen. :)  

It was cold and the day we ended up doing them, the weather had turned from "snowing" to "sleeting" so my hair looks less than stellar...but it was a ton of fun! It was my first time doing professional pictures so I was a little anxious, but we had a fantastic photographer. We used our family friend, Danyelle Harp from Magic Look Photography, and she was excellent. She has an amazing vision for photography and is so creative with her ideas. I felt super comfortable the whole time (I've also known her since she was in diapers, but she's the type of person that makes you feel comfortable regardless of how well you know her :) She's an up and coming photographer and she is definitely going to be huge someday, so if anyone needs photography services, I would love to pass along her contact information! 

Anyways, I can't say enough nice things about her and I am excited for our next shoot on the 29th! Here are a few of my favorites...

Christmas Picture Overload

I meant to write this post a long time ago, but life got in the way (and by life, I mean school). Anyways, as I said before, we had a great Christmas. It was very relaxing and we even got a small winter storm. We lost power for a few hours, but that just made Christmas more cozy.

*Warning, picture overload below!

 Random baby bump picture on Christmas Eve, Eve

 Over at the Harp's for Christmas Eve hor'dourves and drinks

 The dad's. Funny story...they went shopping and decided they both needed these insulated water container backpack things for when they ride their dirt bikes. Instead of just buying themselves each one, they decided to buy one for each other and wrap them up as Christmas gifts. 

 The boy's, chatting about video games.

 Playing a riveting game of Twilight Scene It. 

The girls (some of us), just hanging out in the kitchen.

 Back home and ready to open Christmas Eve presents.

Christmas Eve tree.

Opening presents! 

 They loved the Kindle Fire's we got them! 

 Noah and I with our Christmas Eve pup.

 All of the kids and puppies!

 Christmas Eve tradition...reading Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Last picture of the night! Now off to bed.

 In the morning, waiting to open presents.

 Hudsy helping me open my present.

 Us with our Christmas pup!

 Hudsy taking a nap after all the present opening commotion.

 The boy's in their new hats!

 Presents for Hannah!

 Christmas walk with Hudson.

 Hudson taking another nap. What a lazy pup!

Opening presents for Hannah.

We had a great Christmas! Noah and I got a super nice camera from his parents, a ton of gift cards to Nordstrom and Macy's, we each gave each other a diaper bag (I got my adorable Petunia Picklebottom bag complete with Hannah's monogram!), I got lots of maternity clothes, Noah got a whole set of tools, and Hannah got enough clothes to last her through her whole first year of life! All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas and are so lucky to have such wonderful families. 

 Hannah's closet...I told you she has enough clothes to last through her whole first year of life! Believe it or not, most of these have been gifts from family and friends. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. :)

 My diaper bag...I love it!

 Monogram! I'm slightly obsessed.

21 Weeks

How far along? 21 weeks-130 days to go!

Size and growth of Baby Hannah?  Today Hannah is 10.5 inches long and about 12.7 ounces. She is about the size of a banana. Her eyelids and eyebrows are now present and her lady parts are beginning to form as well!

Maternity Clothes? Of course! 

Weight Gain? A total of 9 pounds.

Stretch Marks? Not yet!

Gender? Girl!

Movement? I feel her move all the time now! It feels like she is doing small somersaults in my stomach. Noah and Kelly have both been able to feel her kicks. They were so excited and gave me the happiest looks. :)

Sleep? Getting better the past week and a half. I might get up once or twice in the night, but I don't wake up from back and rib pain nearly as much as I had been.

Food Cravings/Aversions?   Ice-cream and apples. I might have had a *minor* outburst complete with tears when I found out that my ice-cream (which I had been saving for two days) had melted. It wasn't good and I am definitely blaming hormones on that one.

What I Miss? Nice cheeses with crackers and sandwiches still. I am planning on eating sandwiches for weeks straight when I am able to again.

Symptoms? I've been feeling pretty good this week. My only symptom lately has been some pretty bad heart burn. Tums have become my new best friend.

Best Moment of the Week? Relaxing and watching the "storm of the century" raging outside the window.

Worst Moment of the Week?  Hmmm, I don't think I have had a bad moment this week. Everything is going really well and I have been feeling great!

Other Thoughts? Wedding stuff! I've been trying to knock off some wedding "to-do's" on my list and I think things are coming along pretty smoothly! I'll update more on this in another post! 

Baby pictures!

After the excitement of getting to see our baby in 3-D, there has been a lot of talk about who she might most resemble. We decided to go through some baby pictures of the two of us and make some guesses about our little munchkin.

She might be thoughtful and pick flowers for her Momma...

She might be a little cheerleader...

She might have the cutest dimples in the world (Noah is in the red)...

She might get a little confused sometimes...

She might have platinum blonde hair (and very dramatic facial expressions)...

She might love to color naked (who doesn't?!)...

She might love roaming around Hawaii naked...

She might have some natural modeling skills...

She might have the sweetest smile...

And she might have the chubbiest cheeks.

No matter who she takes after or what she looks like, we know we are going to have the most loved baby in the whole world!